Sacrifice
by TopazFlame7
Summary: Red spots began to fill Loki's vision as he looked down at the hilt of the blade buried in his torso. "Loki!" Thor ran over to his brother and tried to staunch the blood flowing the wound in his brother's chest.
1. Chapter 1

Thor stared down at Loki, distraught at how frail he still looked. Against the dark sheets, his pale skin made him look like a ghost. The bandages wrapping his torso were still soaked in blood, but none of it looked fresh. Thor sighed and brushed a strand of raven hair off his brother's forehead.

The very memory of what happened made Thor sick, as he sat by Loki's still unconscious form. A band of rogue frost giants had somehow got past Aasgard's defenses and had gained entry to the realm. Though no damage had been done, Thor had been furious. Even though Loki had begged him to see reason, assuring him that the passage they used had been sealed off, Thor made up his mind to get revenge. He remembered how Loki had chased him down the hall, trying to dissuade from making such a rash choice.

"You have no idea how many there are!" Loki said.

"It doesn't matter."

"So you're telling me you are just going to march right into their camp and just SEE HOW IT GOES?"

"That was my plan."

"Thor, they are most likely expecting you to follow them, for all you know this whole thing could be a trap!"

Thor turned to his brother, "I'm going and there's nothing you can do to stop me." Thor began to step through the passage to Jotunheim when Loki grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

"Get off me!" Thor roared, Turning, he hit Loki full in the face sending him sliding across the floor. Thor stepped through the Bifrost. Loki pulled himself up, wiped the blood from his mouth, and leaped though after Thor.

Loki pulled himself out of the snowdrift into which he had landed and sprinted in the direction of his brother's footprints. It didn't take very long to catch up to his brother, who was heading to where the rogue giants' camp was. Loki ran over to his brother, keeping one pace behind him. "Thor!" Loki's voice was a harsh whisper, "You have no idea what you are walking into." Thor grunted and quickened his pace, causing Loki to stumble into yet another snowdrift. Loki sighed and picked himself back up and ran after his brother.

Thor was focusing on the tracks of the frost giants, which all seemed to be heading in the same general direction. He heard his brother still trying to get him to turn back. The only words he caught were "rash" "stupid" and "going to die". Loki seemed like he was having trouble walking through the ice fields here. Thor could make out his brother cursing every time he stumbled.

They continued walking until they reached a small passageway cut into a glacier. "Thor don't even THINK of going in there, you have no idea how many are in there, they could easily ambush us." Thor ignored his brother and began to walk down the passage. He heard his brother begin to follow. The passage soon began to get wider, until it reached a large cave in the middle of the glacier. Thor walked out into the open and looked up. He heard Loki curse behind him. Clinging to stalactites on the cave wall and ceiling were more than fifty frost giants. They dropped to the ground and formed a circle around Thor and Loki, blocking their only way of escape.

Without warning, they all began to attack. Thor swung back and forth, hitting all the giants in his general vicinity. "Is that all you've got." He gloated as he took out even more. On the other side of the cavern Loki was battling giants of his own. His eyes were narrowed in concentration as he conjured a torrent of green flame that twisted and turned with only a movement of his hands, sending giants running out of the cave in terror. Loki looked over at Thor, and saw that his brother seemed to be enjoying himself too much. Loki sighed and sliced his hand through the air, causing the frost giant in front of him to collapse without Loki even touching him. Suddenly, something caught Loki's eye.

One of the frost giants, Loki assumed that he was the leader, was scaling the rock with a cruel-looking, curved blade. Thor was oblivious to anything other then the next giant in front of him.

"THOR!" Loki shirked, sprinting across the cavern just as the frost giant pulled back his arm to throw the knife right at Thor. Hearing Loki's scream, Thor turned around just as his brother threw himself in front of him, taking the knife full in the torso. Loki screamed in agony as he slid across the floor of the cave.

"No." This couldn't be happening, Thor ran over to his brother as the frost giants began to close in.

Suddenly Thor saw magic surrounding them that seemed to be radiating from his brother. It incinerated anything it touched, both frost giants and the cave walls. All Thor could hear was the screams of his enemies and the sound of rock and ice splitting and the roof of the cave falling in. Just as Thor thought they would be crushed under the rocks and ice, the world around them began to spin into blackness.

Loki wasn't sure if he could keep this up for much longer. The magic he was performing required an enormous amount of energy to transport just one person, to transport two people was considered and enormous risk without being up to full strength. He focused on pushing every last drop of power in his veins into keeping him and Thor continuing toward Asgard. The air around him crackled with magic as he desperately tried to stay conscious. Suddenly the spinning stopped and Loki was thrown across the courtyard. They made it. They were inside the palace walls; they were safe.

Red spots began to fill Loki's vision as he looked down at the hilt of the blade buried in his torso. "Loki!" Thor ran over to his brother and tried to staunch the blood flowing the wound in his brother's chest.

"Hang on, brother."

Loki's breathing had become shallow and labored, his hands grappled at the hilt, pulling out the curved blade. Loki could only process one thought before he slipped into the blackness; Thor was safe.

While Thor continued his vigil at his brother's bedside, he realized that it wasn't the first time that his brother tried to save his life. Loki had always been there for him, offering advice and reason when Thor needed it most. When Thor was angry or frustrated Loki had always been there to listen to him. He had probably stopped Thor from taking the Warriors Three and Sif on countless suicide missions. Loki had always been looking out for Thor, even though he never really noticed it before. Thor closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain but all he could see was his little brother lying in a puddle of his own blood. Loud sobs wracked Thor's body as he begged Loki to wake up.

Loki felt like he was floating. Was he dead? Loki wasn't sure. He could still feel pain, so Loki guessed he was still alive. Why couldn't he wake up? He tried to break the force of whatever was holding him here. The magic he preformed to get him and Thor back to Asgard had probably weakened him immensely, but he should still be able to move. He heard a voice far away that seemed to be calling his name. He struggled toward the sound that seemed to be getting closer and closer.

Thor looked back at his brother just in time to see his green eyes flick open.

"Thor?" Loki's voice sounded horse. He cleared his throat "Are you there?"

Thor wrapped his brother in his arms, to overjoyed to say anything. Finally he whispered, "Loki I'm so sorry; I'll always be here for you."

Thor never realized it before, but Loki will do anything to save his brother, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.


	2. Chapter 2

Loki was bored. Actually, bored was an understatement. He had spent the entire morning staring at the ceiling. His wound reopened at the slightest movement so he had been confined to his bed. Once his magic returned to its full strength, he would be able to heal himself and find something better to do with his time then count the number of cracks on the ceiling.

He almost wished Thor would come back to check on him. As much as Loki despised being treated like an invalid, he really missed him. Thor had taken it upon himself to make sure nothing happened to his brother when he was injured. Loki rolled his eyes, it's not like the sheets were going to attack him. Loki supposed that Thor felt guilty about what happened, and not listening to him. No one blamed him, but Thor was the kind of person who would blame himself if someone got injured protecting him.

Loki's head hurt. The magic he preformed had to get him and Thor out of the cave had weakened his whole body and between that and his wound, everything hurt. Thinking made it worse and Loki's mind was always going, pouring out more and more ideas. He decided that sleep might be the best thing now, and it wasn't like he was missing anything here. Loki closed his eyes and let darkness swallow him up.

Loki slowly opened his eyes his headache was gone. At least that was one good thing. From the sunlight from the window, Loki could tell that it was late afternoon. He had slept longer that he intended. Loki looked around the room; Thor had been here. The door was half open and on the table next to his bed, there was a glass of water that had not been there before. Loki wondered when Thor had come in; Loki was surprised that he hadn't heard him. Thor was not one for being quiet; Loki could hear him coming from almost anywhere. He must have been really out.

He sighed and resumed studying the ceiling of his room. Loki wished he had the book he was reading the other day, it was an interesting piece and he was nearly done. He racked his brain for where he had last had it. Loki decided that it was probably in the empty room down the hall. That's where he would usually go when he wanted some peace and quiet; it was the perfect place to read. That's also where he was when Thor came in to tell him his "brilliant" plane for revenge. Loki decided he would go. It was just a short walk down the hall.

He sat up slowly, wincing from the sharp pain in his side. "Not so bad," he thought to himself. He crawled to the end of the bed closest to the door. He stood up cautiously, and took a couple shaky steps in the direction of the door. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up his left leg, causing him to stumble into the wall and brace it for support. He limped painstakingly down the hall; each step was more painful then the one before. He was becoming less sure that he was going to make it there. Loki decided that he could let himself rest for a few minutes before starting out again. He sank down against the wall, sighing with relief as the pain in his leg easing as the stress was taken off it.

Loki looked down at the bandages wrapping his torso and stomach. He cursed, the wound had reopened and Loki could see blood starting to soak through. He leaned his head back to rest on the wall, deciding if continuing this quest for his book was a good idea.

All of a sudden, Loki heard footsteps echoing down the corridor. As the footsteps got closer, he tried to pull himself into a more dignified position.

Thor rounded the corner, coming to an abrupt halt at the sight of Loki on the floor of the corridor. Loki looked horrible; he was paler than usual and there were dark shadows under his eyes. Thor rushed to his brother's side, quickly scanning him for any signs of injury. His eyes came to rest on the recently bloodied bandage.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Loki gave him annoyed look, "Trying not to die of boredom; I was getting my book. What does it look like?"

"Like you lost a fight." Loki gave him a death glare. Thor knew his brother was not one to ask for help. "Here let me get it for you." Thor said softly.

"I can get it myself." Loki tried to pull himself up, but his leg has stiffened while he was resting and gave out on him.

"It's fine, I got it." Thor walked down the hallway and into the empty room, coming out with Loki's book.

"Come on Loki, let's go back to your room." Thor bent down and picked up his brother with almost no effort. Loki struggled against Thor's strong arms.

"Loki, please just cooperate." Thor sighed.

"I can walk." Loki continued to struggle.

"Stop that or I'll drop you."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

Loki shot him a halfhearted glare and stopped squirming.

Thor carried Loki back to his room and set him gently on the bed. Then he turned and pulled a chair over to the bedside. As Thor sat down, Loki asked, "So what happened to my leg?"

"Well, when we landed from the, umm… magic bubble thing, you fell out first and landed wrong."

"Magic bubble thing?" Loki thought to himself, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before.

Thor sighed loudly. "Loki—"

"Listen, I don't need a whole lecture from you telling me what I did was stupid." Loki snapped. "I was doing fine on my own."

Thor gave his brother a pained look, but said nothing. Loki picked up his book and began leafing through it until he found his place and began reading. Thor watched his brother read before asking softly, "How's your stomach."

"It's fine." Loki answered without looking up from his book.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Can I get you anything?"

"No."

Thor shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "Loki, you saved my life."

"Yes, what of it?"

"You took a knife for me."

"I'm sure you would have done the same for me."

Thor reached over and knocked the book from his brother's hands. "Listen to me! That's not the point. You could have died!" Thor was choking back tears now, "I could have lost you."

Loki had never seen his brother cry before. This wasn't good. He crawled across the bed and wrapped his arms around Thor's neck. "But I didn't, I'm fine."

"I had no idea you cared so much." Thor whispered. He was shocked; Loki was actually hugging him voluntarily.

"I've always cared that much Thor. Besides, that's what you and me do; we protect each other." Thor held his brother tighter, as if something would take him away.

"I'll never let anything hurt you again."

"You can start by listening to me and not being stupid." Loki's voice was a bit strangled, "Thor I need air." Thor quickly released hid brother, he hadn't realized how tightly he had been holding him.

"Sorry"

Loki retrieved his book, "Look you made me lose my place." He was trying to sound annoyed, but Thor could hear the laughter in his voice.

"You know what Loki, you are a real piece of work." Loki shot him a mischievous smile.

"I don't think I'll ever figure out what goes on in your head."

"And that's how I want it to stay."

Thor laughed and stood up, "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Loki gave him a real smile, "Good."

"Are you sure you don't need anything? Something to eat perhaps?"

"Sure"

Thor was taken aback; Loki was actually accepting Thor's offer of help.

"I'm on it. Oh, wait one more thing." Loki looked up from his book. "You really suck at walking in snow."

Thor laughed and ducked as a thick book went flying over his head.

Well that's it! What do you think? Also, has anyone seen Captain America? It was a great movie and there was an Avengers trailer at the end and Loki was in it!


End file.
